Flower beds at the base of Sweetgum Trees?

I looked through the old strings on putting flower beds in at the base of trees. I found some info about Maples and Oaks, but what about Sweetgum? I have 2 wonderful Sweetgums in my front yard and they really need something added to the base. A few years ago I formed some stones in a ring and put down weed block and then some bark mulch...it hasn't effected the trees at all. This year I would like to add another layer of stones and fill the ring with soil and plant a ground cover to fill the empty space. Will I kill the trees if I do this?

Hi mgh - thought I'd come on over here and see if I could spawn some answers to your question.

I don't know a thing about sweet gum but I've done similar with my two trees in my front yard. One is a Bradford Pear and the other is an Ash. I think I'd recommend removing the mulch you already have down and then filling in shallowly with soil that would probably be the least impact on the trees themselves. Be sure to pick shade to partial shade plants based on the shade showing in your pic.

Good luck and post pics for us in the future to see the outcome!

Thanks langbr. I haven't done anything with it yet. I did buy the bricks and soil already though....wish I'd waited. :-( Oh well, now I'll just have to figure out something else to do with them! heehee. I will definately post some pics when I get it done! When I did the original ring of bricks there were so many tree roots in the soil I couldn't plant anything. That's why I was hoping I could add a layer of soil, but so many people have been warning me not to. I would hate to lose these trees. Thanks, mgh

Sweetgums are notorious for shallow greedy roots. If you put soil and mulch on them, they will simply send roots upwards! Very tough trees, I love them as otherwise there's very little autumn color here in Northern CA.

Like redwoods, they suck up moisture. Plant stuff that is tough and likes dry shade. Also remember since they drop a ton of leaves every fall, you'll need something that doesn't mind being raked over, too.

Oddly enough, one of the plants that has done well in these stressful conditions is the fairy, or miniature, roses. Given enough water to get established, they don't seem to mind the considerable shade and bloom nicely throughout the spring and summer. I have one by the sweetgum and one by an oleander standard (another notorious water-seeker) and both do very well.

jkom51,

Thanks for your reply! Did you take a closer look at the photo I posted? Guess I'm still not sure if that's what I have. I looked it up on the net, but I'm no pro. Do yours put off a spiky ball shaped seed pod? That's the only thing I don't like about these trees, although they do make great ammo for my slingshot!

Do you think it would be safe then to add the next ring of bricks and fill it in with soil? Thanks for the ideas of what to plant....I hadn't even thought of all the leaves we have to rake in the fall. I probably bought the wrong flowers, but they will look nice for this summer anyway.

Thanks again,
mgh

"spiky ball shaped seed pod"....YEP,, that's definitely a gum tree!

Save them "gum balls", mgh...they are great in your flower beds to deter slugs and snails. (If for some reason they sprout they are easily pulled up when you spot them.)


By the way...Howdy doo! and WELCOME to DG!

Thanks for the info Horseshoe. I had no idea those "spiky ball shaped seed pods" were good for deterring snails and slugs. We have plenty of slugs, that's for sure.

I better not refer to those things as "gum balls" though....my 6 and 31/2 year old might get the wrong idea! :-) Next thing I know they'll be trying to eat them!

Thanks for the warm welcome!

mgh

Hey, a song just came to mind....

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree
eating all the gumdrops he can see.....

Never thought of that before...always wondered why there were gumdrops in a tree!

mgh :-)

:>)

(now I'll be humming that song all day!)

Sorry Shoe! It's infectious isn't it! :-)

Well, this is what I ended up with. I kinda like it. :~)

So what's that you got planted in there? I assume that's a trailer of some kind to spill over the edges? Something tall up around the trunck will be it some character. Very nice job, mgh!!

Thanks langbr!

It was a lot of work cause there are quite a few tree roots in the way. When I first did this planter a few years ago, I did a terrible job, just wanted to get it done whether it looked good or not (my children were much younger then and I didn't have that much time to garden). This time I took the time to level everything out and do it right.

What you see planted there now are Million Bells....one of my favorites. I don't know if they are going to get enough sun, we'll see.

I didn't fill in the soil all the way to the trunk of the tree because I've always heard that isn't good for them. I'm thinking maybe by next year the soil will level out and the tree will get used to it slowly, then I'll probably plant something closer to the trunk.

I've gotten quite a few compliments from my neighbors too...makes me feel good! :~)

Thanks,
mgh

Now that looks like it belongs there!

You did an excellent job on that!

I give you a 10+!

Ya done good! :>)

Here's a pic of my SuperBells this year. I also have MillionBells 'Terracotta', but these are my fav.

Shoe, thanks so much for the 10+! It was fun doing it and I enjoy looking out my front window and seeing it. :~) Can't wait till the plants get bigger!

langbr, your SuperBells are beautiful! I don't have any of those yet. Are SuperBells just bigger than MillionBells? If not, what is the difference? I have some Millions that I will take a photo of tomorrow and post...I tried to today, but it was before the sun was on them and they weren't open yet, then I forgot to later! :~)

Thanks so much!
mgh

I don't know what the difference is between Million & Super bells....they are both Calibrachoa. I guess I was thinking Superbells are improved.

http://plantsdatabase.com/search.php?sourceid=Firefox-search&search_text=calibrachoa

Here they are...along with their froggy friend.

Cute planting, mgh!!! :-D